


Live Through This

by afrocurl



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-27
Updated: 2006-06-27
Packaged: 2017-10-08 16:05:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrocurl/pseuds/afrocurl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Logan and Veronica think about Aaron's funeral. Set after <i>Not Pictured</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Live Through This

My life is anything but normal, I know, but things can only get better at this point. No more asshole of a father to torment me, no more legal issues hanging over my head. Things are definitely looking up.

Too bad I still have to sit through the jackass's funeral before things can really change. I have no interest in what happens there, but Trina and Harvey would kill me if I didn't make an appearance. Harvey better have something great as my promised reward for the performance I'm going to have to put on later this week. I can only imagine the way that the funeral is going to portray Aaron as a loving father, consummate professional, and all-around nice guy. I can think of nothing worse than listening to people babble on about how wonderful Aaron was, except possibly watching _Titanic_ on constant loop.

The only bright spot about this whole funeral thing, as far as I can tell, is going to be sitting with Veronica as we watch Aaron's sick body being buried six feet under. I can't tell what's going on with us, but whatever we have now, it's better than hating each other. Hating Aaron has been something we've had in common for a year now, but we've never really talked about it. At some point, I guess we should—just like we need to talk about why we were making out outside Mars Investigations three days ago.

I'm a complicated person, or so I've been told, but Veronica is another story all together. I may have been abused by Aaron, but there's something about Veronica that screams, "Fuck with my head, please," I've seen with her weird strange conversation with Jake Kane at my Christmas party, and any of the awkward moments she had with Duncan last year.

Dating her last summer had been something that made sense, in some weird twisted way. Her help with figuring out if my mom actually killed herself was the first sign I'd seen of how much she really cared about me. Seeing her get me home after the _Total Eclipse of the Heart_ dance was another. Why I decided to make sure she was okay when that weird kid made her drive to the Camelot, I'm not really sure. It just happened. She deserved to have someone protect her, like she had done for me. That moment was hard to describe, everything went so fast. One second I was punching a Federal Agent, and the next minute she was putting her lips on mine. Something about that moment changed my life. I found another person to care for me in that moment, and it was more than enough to turn my life around.

It's too bad then, that nothing I do ever seems to turn out right. After being forgiven for my involvement in Veronica's rape, things were rough, but I thought everything would work out in the end. Then Aaron, in his sick and twisted way, had to try and kill Veronica to protect his secret. That made the rest of the summer difficult, to say the least. As if all of that wasn't bad enough, I found myself at the losing end of a fight with the PCHers with a murder wrap hanging over my head. What a great way to spend a summer with my girlfriend, right?

Being Logan Echolls, I had to go and fuck things up more with her, and try to protect my reputation in a town that should have run me out like a pariah. Lucky me, though, being a celebrity once removed afforded me no such luxury.

I'm an idiot, sure, but that can't last forever. Right?

\-----

It takes some serious effort to convince Keith that nothing bad will happen at the funeral—after all, Aaron is dead. He's been more nervous about letting Veronica out of his sight than usual after that night on the roof of the Neptune Grand. I don't think he knows the whole story about why she was so broken, but I'm not going to add to their drama. The hordes of Aaron's adoring fans that have found their way to the funeral are amazing. Harvey must have somehow sunk lower on the evolutionary chain with _that_ effort. Every A-list actor that Aaron worked with has put in their appearance, and these _friends_ all cried as Trina did her best-devoted daughter act.

Harvey, to his credit, didn't have me speak. Nothing I had to say would have made anyone feel sympathy for Aaron. The giant "FUCK YOU" I wanted to scream remained in my head until we arrived at the graveside. Veronica, to her credit, came, too. As I threw a handful of dirt on his casket, I breathed a sigh of relief. No more beatings. No more nosebleeds. No more pain. I silently muttered a final "fuck you," as I left the cemetery. Veronica heard me, I think, and I'm almost certain she said the same thing.

"Where are we going now?" she asked quietly.

"No clue. Is it alright we go back to your apartment?"

"I guess. Dad's finally warming up to you after all the time we've been spending together."

"And he hasn't wanted to strangle me yet? I must be doing something right this time."

"That, and he knew you've had a bad week."

"Bad week? Try a bad eighteen years."

She laughs softly, and we walk towards my car. I guess we've reached some sort of a détente, but I can't tell how long it will last.

\-----

Going to Aaron's funeral was something I had to do. I needed to watch his body go into the ground to know that that part of my life was really over. I no longer needed to hunt down Lilly Kane's murderer, and I had a new lease on life, as did Logan.

Hearst was going to stay in August, and that meant no one, except Mac and Wallace, would know anything about me. Dad was alive and running around chasing bail jumpers, and Logan…Logan seemed to be _drifting_.

The funeral was the beginning of this new Logan. After the ceremony, he moved out of the Neptune Grand, found a place by the beach, and sat around all day by the water. If I had felt strong enough about our relationship, I would have called him Benjamin, but I didn't think he'd appreciate _that_ movie reference—too many bad memories of an older woman and hurtful accusations, made by me.

I couldn't give him all the attention that I knew he needed, and it hurt. All of the stress I was under with knowing that Dad hadn't been killed and _finally_ knowing who raped me at Shelley's and my tendencies to avoid any complicated situation were not helping. I needed time alone with Dad, and I didn't have the heart to tell Logan I couldn't be there for him twenty four-seven. I don't know if he understood my reasons for backing away, but he put on a good face with the lame reason I gave him. When he wasn't at the beach, he spent all of his time with me, trying to work on our issues. I stopped that conversation every time it started; I didn't want to know what we were doing or where we were going. Trying to stay close to Dad was my first priority.

One day not long after the funeral, Logan stopped by and mentioned that Harvey Greenblatt, Aaron's agent, had rented a mansion in Palm Springs for the week. Apparently it was his way of showing his appreciation to Logan after the show he'd put on at the funeral. Logan asked me if I wanted to go with him. I couldn't really say no, but saying yes was only going to lead to an awkward vacation all around.

Agreeing to go was one thing—having a good time was another.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel, of sorts, to [Don't Look Back](http://archiveofourown.org/works/77330).Many thanks go out ot my wonderful beta, [](http://sarah-p.livejournal.com/profile)[**sarah_p**](http://sarah-p.livejournal.com/) for her help in making this presentable. There is also a little gift for [](http://insunshine.livejournal.com/profile)[**insunshine**](http://insunshine.livejournal.com/)\--enjoy it!


End file.
